Pakistani security officials detain Mumtaz Hussain Qadri (C), one of their colleagues who allegedly killed Salman Taseer, the governor of Pakistan’s most populous province of Punjab, in Islamabad, Pakistan, 04 January 2011. Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rehman Malik said on 04 January that one of the police guards of Salman Taseer killed him. The motive behind the murder reportedly was Taseer’s stance on amendments of country’s blasphemy’s laws.

Mumtaz Hussain Qadri Killer of Salman TaseerSalmaan Taseer, a businessman and politician who served as the Governor of the province of Punjab. He was a member of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and had also served as a minister in the caretaker cabinet of Prime Minister Muhammad Mian Soomro under Pervez Musharraf. He was appointed to the post of governor on 15 May 2008 in place of outgoing governor, Lt Gen Khalid Maqbool (retd) by former President, Pervez Musharraf.
Political career
Taseer started his political career in his student era, as a member of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) in the late 1960s. He was a part of the movement for Bhutto’s freedom and opposed his arrest and death sentence. He also wrote a political biography on Bhutto titled Bhutto: A political biography (1980).
In the 1988 general elections, Taseer became a member of the Punjab Assembly from Lahore. In the 1990, 1993 and 1997 general elections, he ran as an MNA but lost.
In 2007, he was appointed the interim Federal Minister for Industries, Production and Special Initiatives.
On 15 May 2008, Taseer was designated for the office of Governor Punjab by the PPP-led coalition government.
Personal life
Taseer was married to Aamna Taseer and the two resided in Lahore. They had six children; Maryam, Shehryar, Shahbaz, Sara, Sanam and Shehr Bano.
Taseer was known to be one of the trusted aides of Benazir Bhutto. He was a class fellow of Nawaz Sharif at Saint Anthony School, Lahore. He had obtained a degree in Chartered Accountancy from London.
Salman Taseer was the son of Muhammad Din Taseer, popularly known as M.D. Taseer, who is the first Ph.D. degree holder in the Sub-continent.